


Color Me Crazy

by blondeofthecentury (orphan_account)



Category: Doctor Strange (2016)
Genre: But whatever, I promise, LITERALLY, OC is freaking kick-butt, You might cry, also insane, and its great, but also really sad, but it gets happy at the end, kaecilius is a butt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-10-10 09:02:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10434171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/blondeofthecentury
Summary: Belarina Smoll is broken. She travels the world to try to fix her broken mind and ends up at Kamar-Taj. The only real question is what will happen when arrogant and egotistical Stephen Strange shows up and disrespects the greatest warrior they have?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT NOTE:
> 
> Hey, guys! I usually hate reading these myself, but I figured as the readers, you ought to know.  
> I've already written the entire fic, I'm just putting it up and the chapters are really long, so I'll probably post them parts at a time. So if you go back to your history and it says its been updated but the same amount of chapters is still there, it has been updated, just the same chapter.

"Willy come back!" the little five year old girl laughed as her older brother danced just out of her reach.

"You'll have to catch me if you wand Snooty back!" he teased as he clutched her beloved toy.

She giggled, "You're not being fair!" Will had taken her bear and run out the door to make her chase him around the yard.

Will picked her up and spun her around, "Oh, come on, Lady Bug. I'm just playing."

She clutched to him tightly as he swung her onto his back, giving her the bear when she settled, "We should help Momma with dishes."

"Yes, we should." he agreed, heading back into the house.

The house in which they lived was in the middle of the country, as their British neighbor always said. He lived in a house that was three miles away from the Smoll's. Theirs was a powder blue color with white trim and large windows. The Smoll family had lived in it for almost fifteen years as Trina and Don had married, bought the house two years into their marriage, and had William Jacob a year later. Belarina Rose had been born almost eight years after and William knew he would do anything to protect her the first time he had held her the night she was born. He had held her as gently as he could and felt like his parents did when they had held her. They didn't want anything to happen to her. Of course they wanted her to live and learn from her experiences and such, they just wanted her to stay as safe as possibe. The two Smoll children helped their mother with the dishes and then went outside to play some more.

"Will, you two need to come back in!" Trina called, "It's getting dark!"

Will walked Bela back into the house, had her take wash her feet off in the kitchen sink, and lead her up the stairs to bed. Trina and Don got their daughter ready for bed and tucked her into the blankets, making sure she had her favorite bear that she'd had since she was three when her brother gave it to her.

"You want a story, Lady Bug?" her mother had asked.

"Yes, please." the small blonde girl answered politely.

"Alright." Trina and Don moved to sit on either side of her and Don started to tell the story. William laid at the end of the bed, almost as though he were a watchdog standing guard over his "pup".

"Once upon a time..." Don started.

Bela listened to the whole story and after her family had left her bedroom, she lay on her bed, curling her small frame around Snooty and tried to sleep, but it seemed reluctant to enclose her with its soft, protective wings. Sleep danced on the edge of her mind, not quite touching its toes to the floor, seeming to float above the ground that was made up by her mind. It only seemed to become more and more elusive as she subconsciously felt herself warm up as the minutes passed. She heard some yelling in the back of her mind and the sleep that had been floating around, suddenly took off like a bird that had heard a gunshot as someone yelled her name. She was suddenly aware of someone picking her up and shoving Snooty into her arms and then an odd swaying motion as the person carrying her ran quickly. Bela snapped to full consciousness and realized the person carrying her was her brother and there were flames all around them. They neared the front door, but part of the second floor fell in front of them, making Will drop her as he fell back. Bela screamed as the greedy flames licked up her petite body and tried to get them off. Willy grabbed a blanket that hadn't been touched and smothered the flames as quickly as he could. He looked around frantically for a way out of their burning home, and he found one. There was a small hole in the pile of charred debris right before them. It would definitely fit Bela, but he was not entirely sure it would fit his larger form.He could work that out later.

"Hey, Lady Bug. I need you to listen to me, okay?" he said, crouching down to her level.

Bela nodded and looked at him intently.

"You see that hole in the pile of stuff?" he pointed to show her the one he meant.

She nodded.

"I need you to climb through it and run as far away from the house as possible."

"What about you?" She asked.

"I'll be right behind you." he promised.

"Promise?"

"Yes. Now go!" he insisted.

She scrambled through the hole in the debris and ran out the front door. Bela had barely cleared the doorway when the house collapsed behind her.

XXX

Bela jolted awake, her brother's name passing her lips in a scream the exact same way it had ten years before. Her hand flew to her mouth in an attempt to muffle her cry, but it was too late. It was already out there. She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest and the blanket over her head, resting her elbows on her knees and roughly shoving her fingers into her hair. She fought against her tears as though she were a lion protecting its pride against some larger threat, but she inevitably lost. She tried to keep her sobs as quiet as she could, but to no avail. The door to her bedroom opened, but she didn't look up to see who it was. She already knew.

The Ancient One sat in front of her on the edge of her bed with a small cup of tea in her hands, "Would you like some tea, Bela?"

The girl shook her head slowly, sniffing.

"What do you want, child?" The Ancient One carefully pulled the blanket off the head of her pupil.

Bela looked up at her teacher, her big, bright blue Bambi eyes glassy and red. When she spoke, her voice was almost as broken as her mind, "I want my brother back." She whispered, her voice tight.

The Sorcerer Supreme set the cup of tea down and moved to sit beside the shattered girl, pulling her into her side, "I know." she said, "And I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do to bring him back."

Bela cried into the chest of the woman who had taken her in until she fell asleep. The Ancient One held her and stroked her long blonde hair until sleep had claimed her in its talons and for some time after to make sure the child would sleep soundly before taking her leave.

Belarina Smoll had come to Kamar-Taj two months prior, completely and utterly broken and without any money. Her brother had died when she was ten and every person who had taken her in or tried to befriend her since had ended up dead as well. She had been to institutions, gurus, priests, holy men and women, medicine men- traveled all over the world to try to fix her shattered mind- but she remained unchanged. She had been in Romania in a gypsy camp when she heard about it. Kamar- Taj. Supposedly, this place worked. So she scrounged up for about a week (picking pockets and the like) to save up for a one way ticket to Nepal. After her arrival there, she traveled for about two weeks to get to Kathmandu. Kaecilius was the one who found her. This had been a few months before he had turned to Dormamu for guidance.

XXX

Bela had been huddled in the corner at the end of an alley, squeezing her eyes shut, covering her ears, and screaming. When he had found the source of the horrible and heartbreaking sound, his heart had ached for her. He approached her as though she were a frightened lamb that might run at any second and after a lot of trial and error, managed to convince her to let him comfort her.In his attempts at getting her to trust him, he found humor worked best. He made a joke about a three humped camel and she had giggled a little, but it was as though she really didn't to. Still, he counted it as a small victory. He tried something else, but it only seemed to frighten her more. He decided to try and make her laugh again. He stayed with her through the night, promising he would protect her and cradling her with his body. When the child-like teenager woke up the next morning, he took her to Kamar-Taj. There, the Ancient One accepted the broken girl as a pupil and began to train her. When Kaecilius started to fall away from the Sorcerer Supreme, he tried to convince Bela to join him, but she had taken the book he was going to steal pages from and read it cover to cover. She knew what was in store for those who performed the two rituals that were part of the spell.

"You would betray me?" he had asked.

She shook her head, "I'm not betraying you."

"I brought you here in the first place!" he shouted, making Bela flinch.

"She would have found her way here without your help, Master Kaecilius." The Ancient One said, having been walking past as the confrontation started. "Come, Bela. You're going to be late for your next lesson."

Bela had moved to follow her teacher, but Kaecilius caught her roughly by the arm, "I should have left you in the streets where I found you."

She felt a deep emotional pain slice through her, but it quickly turned to anger as she looked up at him, "Maybe you should have," She said in a low voice, "Because then i wouldn't have any reason to want to kill you."

He looked into those icy blue eyes and was surprised by the fire he saw in them. He released her arm, chuckling, "I'd like to see you try."

She glared at him, taking a step forward so that their chests were almost touching, "You know  _nothing_ about what I'm capable of."

"I know you're capable of sniffling in a little ball." he said after appearing to think for a moment.

Bela's glare turned even colder, "Do what you want. I will take no part in it."

She left the room.

XXX

When Bela woke up the next morning after the nightmare of the fire that had killed her parents, she started going through what she knew as she brushed out her straight blonde hair that reached her waist.

"My name is Belarina Smoll. I'm sixteen years old. Today's my birthday. I'm an orphan. My parents died in a fire when I was five. My brother's name was William Smoll. I called him Willy. He gave me a teddy bear when i was three. I called him Snooty. Willy died when I was ten. I went crazy. I got to Nepal two weeks before getting here.  Kaecilius found me and brought me here. The Ancient One decided to accept me as a pupil. The last time a saw something that wasn't there was three days ago." She said, almost as if it were a chant. "This place is helping me."

"I'm glad to hear it." The Sorcerer Supreme said behind her.

Startled, Bela dropped the brush and summoned her magic to create a weapon.

"It's alright, Belarina." said her teacher, completely unfazed, "It's only me."

Bela sighed and the glowing orange-yellow staff disapeared. "Sorry."

"Don't be." The Ancient One bent down and picked up the fallen hair brush, "It means you still have sharp reflexes."

She gave a small smile.

"Is it helping?"

Bela frowned in confusion, "Is what helping?"

"Reciting what you already know."

"Oh. Um-I-I think so. I'm not sure yet." she admitted. "Sorry."

"There's no need to apologize. Ignorance is not a sin." She started to brush Bela's hair.

Bela gave a small smile that was gone as soon as it appeared, "I suppose not. I have a question."

"I hope I have an answer."

"Why do you treat me differently?" she asked. "I've watched you with some of the others and you're harder on them."

"Because that's what they need. They need someone to push them. You on the other hand," She started to put Bela's hair up. "Push yourself on your own. You carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. It's part of the reason your mind can't heal. I'm trying to teach you to lighten the load. share the burden."

Bela frowned, "I've done that before, but everyone I do that with dies."

"I haven't." The Ancient One pointed out.

"Yes, but you've been around for a long time. I don't think you're going to die any time soon." Bela said.

The Sorcerer Supreme's nimble fingers moved through Bela's silky hair as she put it up so that it would not get it the way through out her lessons for that day. "Death is one of the few things in life over which we have no control."

Bela glanced studied her teacher in the mirror, "You seem to have put reigns on it. Would it be possible for someone else to do it too?"

"That's the kind of thinking that lead Kaecilius astray." The Ancient One warned.

"I like to think it's because his head got too big. He was always arrogant anyways, but one day he just started to act like he owned the place. I never knew why until he tried to recruit me." Bela said.

"Why didn't you join his forces?"

"Because it's like you said. I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders and i haven't learned to share the load. I was tempted to join him for a second, but I'd already read the whole book and the warnings that come after the spell-well, the frightened me. I also knew, and still know, that i have much to learn."

"That you do, Little Dancer. Come now, you have lessons you're going to be late for."

Bela quickly dressed and ran to her first lesson of the day.


	2. Chapter 2

When Bela arrived a Kamar-Taj and started her lessons, its was obvious that she was bright. It was also obvious that she would be an excellent warrior after the roper training: she had a knack for the art of battle. Of course, this was only proven after she was convinced that it was alright to actually fight. She was fierce and strong and unafraid of her opponents once she got used to the sparring. It was one of her favorite parts of the day. After three or four months of training, she was good enough to fight Mordo. A few moths of training with him and she was good enough to spar with Wong. After only a year and a half at Kamar- Taj, she had to fight the Sorcerer Supreme herself if she wanted to progress. By the time she was seventeen she had read almost every book in the library and learned their teachings and uses. Still, as great of a warrior and sorcerer as she was, she still had much to learn. She was called "Master Smoll", though she was still a student, because she knew what was needed about the fundamentals of magic and could perform complicated spells. However, she still had much to learn and much to fight: she continued to have nightmares and visions.

The day Doctor Stephen Strange arrived was-well- strange. Bela had never met a doctor before and was extremely curious- though she kept her distance, The day she officially met him was two months after he arrived. The Ancient One had decided that he needed to be shown he was not the only one there who possessed a certain talent at something.

"What do you want me to do again?" Stephen asked.

"I want you to spar with Belarina." She said simply.

Strange looked over to the girl in mention, "But she's just a kid."

The Ancient One smiled, "Indeed she is. And she's undergone a very strenuous journey in her short life. It's made her our best warrior."

Strange scoffed as she walked away from the sparring area, "You cant expect me to fight a little girl."

"Yes I can. And I do. You can start whenever you like, Master Smoll. He's your pupil now." She walked away.

Strange gave a chuckle of disbelief and turned back to look at Belarina. Only, she wasn't there. He felt a foot collide with his rump and the next thing he knew he was on his hands and knees.

"Lesson One: don't take your eyes off your opponent." Bela said in a cold voice, coming around to face him as he got to his feet.

"Yeah? How many 'lessons' are there going to be, 'Master Smoll'?" he taunted.

"As many as there need to- what _is_ that?" she looked shocked at a spot behind him.

He whirled to look and was kicked again, sent sprawling  to the ground.

"As many as need to be taught, Stephen." She said, moving away so that she was constantly out of eye-shot. "Lesson Two: respect your teachers. I think  _that_ ," she kicked his rump again, sending him to his knees, "Will be the focus for today. Lessons One and Two."

"Will you stop doing that?" he asked in frustration.

"What? This?" Since he was still on his knees, she kicked him squarely between his shoulder blades, "No. It's part of the lesson."

"Which one?" He pushed himself to his feet and looked around for her.

"Both. If I'm strong enough to kick a one hundred and sixty pound man who has good balance so that his face lands in the dirt after one kick over and over agani. do you think he'll learn to respect me?" she asked.

"No, I think he'll come to hate you." Stephen muttered.

"Speak up, Stephen." she ordered, kicking him to the ground yet again.

"You won't like what I said." He warned, pushing himself up.

She kicked him again. "Say it anyways."

"I said I think he'll begin to hate you." he turned and caught her foot, earning a small smile.

The smile vanished as soon as it appeared, "Very good. Now what?"

"What do you mean?" he asked in confusion.

"You've just prevented me from kicking your butt-quite litterally- over and over again by catching my foot in your hand." she said. "Let's say I've been fighting you for five minutes-"

"That's not very long." He interrupted.

She glared at him, "Five minutes can be the difference between life and death. As a medical man I would expect you to know that five minutes can be a lifetime. Now. We've been fighting for five minutes and you've finally got the upper hand with my foot in your hands. What do you do know?"

He twisted her foot but she jumped up and turned with her foot, kicking him sharply in the jaw.

"Ow!" he cried.

"Yes, I can imagine. Obviously you were wrong. Again."

He tried twisting her foot the other way, but she only kicked the other side of his face, "What the hell do you call this?" he asked.

"Teaching." She put her foot back in his hand, "Again."

Needless to say, there was much animosity between the two. Most of it was Stephen's directed towards her, but she loathed hiss refusal to learn what she was teaching him. She would have to do the same thing over and over again for a few days just so he would show that he understood when she knew he did the first time she taught it. It was driving her mad and after four weeks of this, she'd had enough.

"So what's the lesson today, Bela?" Stephen asked in his usual haughty tone.

She stood in the middle of their square of the training area, "I'm sure you'll figure it out. For now," She spread her arms out, "Give me your best shot."

He chuckled, "Are you sure?"

"You have five minutes to pin me to the ground for five seconds. Your time starts now."

It took him a few seconds to move.

He tried to tackle her like a football player, but she only stepped out of his reach. He tried to punch her from behind, but she dodged it.

"How did you-"

"Stephen it you make conversation with your opponent, you was your breath-which you need. So I would suggest you zip your howling screamer."

He tried to hit her again and again she moved so that he couldn't. He tried to kick her feet out from under her, but she just jumped over his legs thinking that this was pitiful. At this stage he should have been able to at least land a blow to some extent. On and on it went and he had yet to actually touch her. When she gauged his five minutes were up, she kicked him in the chest- setting him off balance- and then pulled an upper cut on his chin. He landed flat on his back and she pinned him. She started counting and he struggled against her, but to no avail. When she got to five, she didn't let go.

"Okay, you win." he said, panting.

"Yes. And if I were a real enemy you'd be dead." She said icily, "I'm still teaching you the same thing over and over again, yet you refuse to learn because I'm younger than you or you feel like I don't have the experience necessary to teach you. I am here to help you. Get that through your head." She said the last two sentences with as much force as she could muster and then got off of him.,"We're done for today." and left.

Bela refused to teach him another lesson until he came and told her he was ready to learn and proved it. It took him a couple weeks to do it because he was so stubborn and prideful. The day he did was the day he found out she stayed in the room next to his.

Stephen had been all over the compound looking for Bela, but he couldn't find her. She wasn't in the library or the kitchen or dining hall or training room or anywhere he could think of. Finally, he asked the Ancient One.

"I think she's in her bedroom." she told him.

"Great." He turned to go there and then realized, "I don't know where that is."

"It's the one right next to yours."

"Right. Thanks." And he set off to find her.

When he did, she was under her blankets on her bed with her hands over her ears, her eyes squeezed shut, and tears flowing freely down her face. But he only knew that after he carefully removed the blanket.

"My name is Belarina Smoll. I'm seventeen years old. I'man orphan. My parents died in a fire when I was five. My brother's name was William. I called him Willy. He gave me a teddy bear when I was three. I called him Snooty. Willy died when I was ten. I went crazy. I got to Nepal two weeks before getting here. Kaecilius found me and brought me here. The Ancient One decided to accept me as a pupil. I've been here for two years and eight months. The last time i had a vision was twenty minutes ago." she whispered. and started again. "My name is Belarina Smoll. I'm seventeen years old. I'm an orphan."

"Bela?" Stepen asked gently. She continued going through what she knew. "Bela?" he sat on the edge of her bed.

"Kaecilius found me and brought me here." she said.

He gently touched her arm, "Bela?"

She jumped and scrambled to the corner of the bed then frowned in confusion, "Strange?"

"Yes." he gave a small nod, "Are you alright?"

Her confusion only increased, "I-I don't know."

"You saw something?" he asked.

She nodded, wiping her face free of tears.

"Can yo tell me what it was?"

A beat passed.

"Bela, I'm not going to hurt you." He promised.

She looked at him a few seconds more before letting out a little breath and tucking her hair behind her ears, "I saw my brother."

"Willy?"

She frowned, "How did you know?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, "I heard you doing your little chant...thing."

"Oh." She shifted so that she was sitting a little more comfortably with her legs crossed him front of her. "Yeah. I saw Willy."

She didn't know exactly why she was telling him, but she needed to tell  _someone._

"Did he do anything?" Stephen asked.

Bela's eyes got glassy and she rested her elbows on her knees, covering her face with her hands. Her shoulders shook a couple of times before he awkwardly moved to sit next to her and put his arm around her shoulders and used his other hand to pat her head. She leaned into his side. It wasn't hard to figure out what she saw her brother do. He brought his other arm around her and held her tightly as she cried. When she calmed down a little, she whispered her little chant into his chest.

"My name is Belarina Smoll. I'm seventeen years old. I'man orphan. My parents died in a fire when I was five. My brother's name was William. I called him Willy. He gave me a teddy bear when I was three. I called him Snooty. Willy died when I was ten. I went crazy. I got to Nepal two weeks before getting here. Kaecilius found me and brought me here. The Ancient One decided to accept me as a pupil. I've been here for two years and eight months. The last time i had a vision was forty minutes ago. I have a new friend. He's a doctor. His name is Stephen." She started again. "My name is Belarina Smoll. I'm seventeen years old."

She continued, but Stephen wasn't listening very closely until she got to the part he wanted to make sure he heard right.

"The last time I saw something that wasn't there was forty-two minutes ago. I have a new friend. He's a doctor. His name is Stephen."

Yes, he had heard correctly. He was somewhat shocked by this, but he wasn't going to correct her. It was obvious she needed friends, he thought-though it wasn't a malicious thought. It was simply an...observation. This girl he had in his arms was broken. She had watched her brother die when she was ten and was so scarred by it, she literally went insane. Again, it was obvious she needed a friend and he would be damned if he corrected her when she called him one.

Stephen rocked Belarina a little and rubbed her back, trying to comfort her as best he could. He realized that while she had the mind- however broken- of a teenager, she was still very child-like. Then she started her little chant over and he remembered why: she had lost every member of her family and had been forced to grow up far too quickly.

Bela had started to mumble her chant incoherently and when Stephen looked down at her, he realized it was because the small blonde girl was falling asleep. He moved her so that she was lying down and went to leave, but the half-asleep girl caught his fingers in a tight but gentle grip.

"Don't leave me." She whispered.

He looked into those clear blue eyes of hers and gave a soft smile. "I'm only going to get some tea. I'll be right back, I promise."

"Will you bring me some?" she asked.

He nodded, "Do you want some honey in it?"

She shook her head sleepily, "I like it black."

"Okay." he pushed her hair out of her face, "I'll be right back."

He was at the door when she called his name.

"Yes?"

"I'm still your teacher." She reminded.

He chuckled, "Yes, Bela. I know. Go to sleep. I'll be right back."


	3. Chapter 3

After that, Stephen allowed himself to learn what Bela had been trying to teach him for almost two months and he helped her with some things he'd picked up along the way. They became attached at the hip and only parted when they needed to. They still slept in their respective rooms -because it would be weird if they didn't- although Stephen often spent about half of most nights in Bela's room because she had been screaming from a nightmare and woken him up. Some of the others in the compound got the wrong idea, but were quickly put in their place when sparring with Bela. They both changed. Their changes were subtle, but noticeable. Stephen was less detached. Bela wasn't as put-off-ish. They both progressed in their sorcery. Bela was just as hard on him as before, but it was easier as he no longer resisted- although fighting was definitely not something that came easily to him, especially in hand to hand combat. There was one day when she pulled a trick on him and he told her it wasn't fair.

"Life isn't fair, Strange. If it was, I'd still have my family and be mentally whole." she said coldly. This was normal. During lessons they were the doctor that was unable to practice his trade but had started to recover because of the child who had found her trade and excelled in it. They were student and teacher respectively. And the teacher was intent on teaching her student to survive.

"Even so, that was a dirty trick. I thought we were fighting clean."

"One thing you must learn is that there is no such thing as a- how did you put it- 'clean fight'. There is only survival. So if you find yourself at a disadvantage and you can throw sand in your enemy's eyes, do it. If you can't find a weapon and the cliff's edge is right there behind you, manipulate them so that they go over instead of you. Do I make myself clear?"

He nodded once.

"Good. Another thing to learn: anything can be used as a weapon. You find a pen? It's now a knife. There's a necklace in the smashed window of a jewelry store? Use it's chain to cut their eye. Anything can be used to an advantage. Whether or not it's yours is up to you. Do you understand?"

He nodded again.

"Good. I believe you have another class to get to, Strange. Hop to it."

He gave a small bow, which she returned, and left for his next class.

XXX

That night when Stephen went looking for Bela so they could eat dinner together, he couldn't find her. He ran into Mordo and asked if he knew where the little blonde warrior was.

"I can tell you where she _should_ be." The sorcerer told him.

"Which would be-"

"The kitchens. She's on dinner duty this week."

"She cooks?" Stephen asked incredulously.

Mordo nodded, "She's one of the best cooks we have. She's traveled all over the globe and picked up a few recipes along the way. Some meals she has cerated by combining them."

"But she can cook?"

Mordo smiled, "You should go help her. Every one always eats a lot of her food."

"Okay." Stephen made his way to the kitchen and muttered "She cooks" the whole way there.

When he opened the door to the kitchen she was at one of the stoves, hard at work.

"Hey. What's up, Doc?" she asked over her shoulder.

"How'd you know it was me?" he asked, dumbfounded.

She gave a short chuckle, "You said, 'oh she actually  _does_ cook.'" she glanced back at him while adding something to the pan and gave him a small smile that was gone as soon as it appeared, but mirth remained in her eyes. "Sorry I forgot to tell you it's my week." she said, turning back to the pan and shaking it around.

"It's alright."

"And, Stephen?" she added.

"Yes?"

"No offense, but if you're not going to help, get out of my kitchen."

"Okay, I'll see you after dinner." He left.

Bela looked back at the door as it closed and looked over to see one of her fellow pupils eyeing her.

"If you have something to say, Mark, I suggest you say it. Otherwise get back to work." she said in her usual cold tone.

The boy that had been eyeing her frowned, "Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine."

She rolled her eyes, "Mark, if I felt the sunshine were worth my time would I be this pale?"

Mark laughed a little, "No, I don't suppose so. Anyways, why do you hang around that jerk so much?"

"Because he and I have found a way of understanding each other. Like everyone else in this place, we're both broken, just for different reasons."

"Understanding each other as in sleeping together?" he asked.

Bela laughed with out humor, "No. He's old enough to be my father. Practically is, really."

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

"It's alright. Although, you're luckier than the first few people to ask me." she said.

Mark looked up from the onions she was chopping, "And why is that?"

"They ended up with broken noses." Bela answered simply.

Mark laughed, "Remind me to never piss you off."

She smirked at the pan of cooking vegetables, "I can make you no promises."

XXX

When Bela got to her room after dinner, Stephen was already there. He was sitting on her bed reading a book and eating an apple. She didn't acknowledge him, but grabbed her pajamas and started to change into them. Stephen held his book higher to block her from his view and only lowered it when he heard the drawers of her dresser open and close. Neither had spoken a word and neither intended to just yet. Bela went through a series of stretches and yoga poses before pulling her hair out of its complicated up-do as she sat on her bed.

Stephen looked up from his book, "You are an excellent cook."

"Thanks." she said, working through a particularly tricky bit of hair.

"No, really. I've never had anything like it. What was it?" he asked.

"Wong," She put a pin in her mouth, "Asked me to make it last time, but I wasn't able to so I promised him that I would make it this time. It's and Asain blend, really. I take different bits from China, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, basically you name it, there's an element in the foo-" She stopped talking, her eyes transfixed on something out the window.

"Bela?" Stephen asked. He looked out the window and saw nothing out of the ordinary, "Bela, what do you see?" he closed the book and set it aside.

"I've never seen so many butterflies." She muttered, going to the window. Her hair was half- done, half-undone, forgotten by the beauty of her vision.

He stared. Usually her visions were things of terror and trauma, not beauty and wonder. In all reality, he couldn't remember a time when she hadn't had a vision that left her doing her little chant in the corner or under her blankets with her ears covered and eyes squeezed shut. he watched her closely as she stared out the window for another minute and thirty seconds before she gave a little start.

"-d in it." She finished. "How did I end up at the window?"

"Do you remember the butterflies?" he asked.

Bela shook her head in confusion, "N-no. What- what butterflies?"

"You had another vision." he explained. "You said something about never having seen so many. Does that ring a bell?"

She nodded and sat beside him, "Yes, but probably not the one you were hoping it would." she was still in a bit of a daze.

Stephen turned her so that her back was to him and finished taking out her hair with his shaking fingers. "What bell did it wring?" He was used to her like this. She was always disoriented after and episode. Granted, she was usually quite a bit more shaken and would actually remember what she had seen. Soon after he and Bela had started to spend more time together, the Ancient One had showed Stephen how to put up her hair so that he could do it when Bela had had another episode. The Sorcerer Supreme had done it on one of the little girls that were at Kamar-Taj, and Stephen had practiced on Bela. If he was patient with himself, he actually did pretty well.

She frowned, "Willy and I were in Arizona. Phoenix. And the family we were with decided to take us to the Butterfly garden there. I loved it so much that when we moved to California, he kept asking our new foster family to take us to the Redwood Forest while the monarchs were migrating. There were millions of them and when you got to close to a tree, all the butterflies on it would fly off and go to another one. It was incredible." she said wistfully.

Stephen tacked this information to the back of his mind to use for later.

"So you like butterflies, huh?" he asked.

She nodded a little, "Yeah. I do."

There was a small yip that came from the bathroom as the last little bit of Bela's hair fell down the entire length of her back.

"Bela?" Stephen said, fatherly and accusing, "Why did your bathroom just bark?"


	4. Chapter 4

Bela flushed and looked back at him, "You remember that dog that had a broken leg? And you gave him a splint?"

Stephen frowned, "How did you know about that?" ((Quick A/N: He actually did, it's just in the deleted scenes.))

"Mordo wasn't the only one following you around that day." she answered, one of her rare smiles fluttering across her face as she wen to the bathroom door and opened it.

The mangy stray padded out and yipped excitedly, pawing at Bela's leg.

"Bela!" Stephen exclaimed in surprise, "Is he even allowed here?"

She shrugged, "I don't know." she dropped to one knee and rubbed at the dog's face affectionately. "Hey, big guy." The dog sniffed at her and she let out a short giggle, "What did you find? Did you find dinner?" She pulled out a little bundle out of her pocket and spread it out on the floor, "There you go." The dog licked her hand and started eating hungrily. She pat his side and went back to sit by Stephen, "So what should we name him?"

"We? Bela, we don't even know if we can keep him. Naming him won't help if we can't."

She frowned, "But we take in broken things, and look-" she pointed at the dog's leg that still carried the splint Stephen had put on it, "His leg is broken."

"You make a compelling case." said a voice at the door.

The dog looked up, became disinterested, and went back to his meal.

"Although, I do wish you would have asked me first.

Bela looked at her hands, "I am sorry."

"I know." the Ancient One knelt beside the dog and looked him over, "He does need to be bathed, though."

She looked up in surprise.

"And he'll have to be trained." the Sorcerer Supreme continued.

"So I can keep him?"

"He will be your responsibility, Master Smoll." her teacher informed, "Any misdeed done will be on your head."

For a moment, Bela grinned, "I understand."

"Good. Then I will bid you good night. I will see you tomorrow." The Ancient One left the room.

"Okay, so I guess we can name him." Stephen said begrudgingly.

"What do you think about 'Patch'?" she asked.

"You're sure it's male, right?" Stephen asked.

Bela nodded.

"Okay. Um, why don't we come up with a bunch of different names and then pick one from them." he suggested.

"Okay." she brought out a pad of paper and a pen and started writing names they came up with.

The list consisted of: Patch, Peanut Butter ("What? His fur is kind of the same color!"), Yellow Tail ("Oh, and that's no worse than 'Peanut Butter'?"), Captain, Scurvy ("You know that's a disease, right?"), Cody, Bones, Paws ("Scratch that out immediately. I don't even know why you're writing it down."), Claws ("And that's no worse than 'Paws'?" she had mimicked. He only grumbled unintelligibly in reply.), Goose ("That's an entirely different species!" "So! You were the one that wanted to call him 'Duck'!" "Don't write it down." "I'm writing it down." "No, do- ah, to hell with it."), Bones, and Stitches ("That's basically 'Patch'." "But it's not. It's different." "Okay, okay, I'll write it down."). The first few names to go were Peanut Butter ("Aw, come on! That's a good name!" "We might as well call him 'Sandwich!" "Bela, don't cross it out!" "We agreed to agree, Stephen."), Cody, Goose ("Aw, Stephen!" "You didn't even  write down 'Duck'!"), Paws, and Claws. Stephen argued for her to cross out Yellow Tail and after a little while, she finally did.

"Okay, so what's left?" he asked.

She showed him the list.

"Wow, Bela. You're handwriting's worse than mine is." he remarked.

She punched his arm playfully, "I have an excuse."

"Oh really? What is it?" he rested his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands and looked at her as though she was about to tell the most interesting story he had ever heard.

"Well, after Willy died, I literally went insane." she said. "The foster family that I was with had me institutionalized when I started screaming at something that wasn't there and I was there for a long time."

"How long is a long time?" he asked, having dropped the act after the first four words she had said.

"About a year. After that, I broke out and started my search for a place that would help me heal with out stuffing me so full of drugs that I might as well be a turkey and turning me into a shell."

"Hang on, I knew you'd been admitted, but I didn't know you  _broke out_. How'd you do that?"

She gave him a look.

"Okay, you can tell me later. Continue."

"So I got out," She said, putting emphasis on the words, "And started travelling. I had priests try to exorcise me, but then they kicked me out once they figured out I wasn't demonically possessed."

"Where have you been?" he asked.

"Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Spain, Britain, Germany, Russia, Africa, France, China, basically if you can think of any country, I've probably lived there at some point."

"But that would mean that you only traveled around for four years. How did you learn to read and speak all those different languages? And cook all those foods?"

"How did you get your MD and PhD at the same time?" she countered.

"I have a photographic memory." he answered.

"So do I. Except, a little different. I can remember every scent, sound, emotion, picture and everything else. I pet a pig when i was three and I still remember the way it felt." she told him.

He frowned, "You have Hyperthymesia."

Bela nodded. "And I was actually travelling for about five years. I wasn't able to get out until I was almost eleven and I wasn't quite sixteen when I got here."

"Still, that's a lot of travelling. How did you do it?"

"I told you, I grew up in the foster system and mostly on the streets." She shrugged, "I pulled some favors."

He nodded in understanding, "Did you ever see the ocean?"

She nodded, "But I've never heard it."

"How is that possible?" he asked.

"I went deaf the night m parents died. The only reason I can speak so well is because i had started speaking before and when I learned how to channel my magic to my ears, the Ancient One taught me how to speak normally." she explained.

He frowned, "So if you stop, you can't hear anything?"

She nodded, "I learned two languages every country that I went to: the hearing language and the Deaf language."

"That 'Deaf' sounded different from the other 'deaf'." Stephen noted.

"That's because there's being unable to hear and being a part of the Deaf community."

"There's a Deaf community?"

Bela nodded, "Okay, so what are we going to name him?" she pointed at the dog.

"What do you want to call him?" Stephen asked, still curious, but used to her mind jumping from topic to topic without realizing it or even remembering what they were talking about moments before.

"I like Bones." she said.

He looked at the dog. It had laid itself down on the ground with its head between hits paws. Bela smiled at him and leaned into Stephen.

"How did you become deaf?" he asked.

"The fire my parents died in. The heat burned up my cochlea. I never wanted an implant, though. I was fine with being Deaf. Willy and I learned sign language and he was my interpreter a lot of the time." she answered. "You remind me of him, you know."

"Of your brother?" Stephen asked.

She nodded with a little yawn, "You both had this shell-this wall- that covered a kinder side of you. For Willy it was acting like he was the toughest guy you'd meet in your life. For you, it's an egotistical arrogant di-"

"Hey, now." He put a hand over his heart, feigning offense, "That hurt."

"She offered a small apologetic smile that was gone as soon as it had appeared, "Just tellin' it how I see it."

He chuckled, "I know you are. So I've asked you your twenty questions; what do you want to know about me?"

"Whatever you want to tell me." She yawned again.

"Ah, now that's not fair." He teased, "How about a bed time story?"

She snuggled into him, "I haven't had one of those since my parents were around."

He rested his cheek on the top of her head, "Well then I'd say you're long over due."

Bela gave a soft hum in agreement, "But it has to start with 'once upon a time'. That's how all the good ones start."

Stephen chuckled, "Okay. Once upon a time there was a little girl sitting beside a tree with her sister reading her a story from a book. As her sister droned on and on, the girl got sleepier and sleepier. Then she heard something rustle in the grass close by. She sat up and looked around and saw a white rabbit in a blue waist coat. It pulled a pocket watch out of its pocket and checked the time. After it checked the time, it returned the watch to its place before looking back at the girl and scurrying away. Curious as to what a rabbit would be wearing a waist coat and concerned about the time, the girl followed the strange little bunny." He glanced down at Belarina and found her fast asleep with her head on his chest.

He let out a long sigh and combed his shaking and unsteady hands through her hair a few times to push it out of her face. He kissed the top of her head and settled down to sleep, carefully shifting into a more comfortable position. He didn't want her to wake up and he also didn't mind staying where he was. He would wake up in a few hours anyways from Bela screaming in her sleep, so that was only extra incentive to remain where he was. Bones jumped up and curled up at the end of the bed. Stephen closed his eyes and soon followed a strange rabbit in a blue waist coat down into the rabbit hole of slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not finished with this chapter yet, but I figured I could post what I had typed up! Again, I'm really sorry for the wait, but I'm afraid this is how it will be, my loves.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT!!!!!!!
> 
> Hey! So I'm just gonna put this up here really quick. So for those of you who aren't familiar with the Deaf community or anything like that, the capitalized stuff is Gloss which is how you write out how you sign things in English. I will be putting translations up for those of you who aren't familiar with this form of writing, but you should be able to get the gist of it. For those of you who DO know Gloss, I'm typing instead of handwriting like I usually do and I'm not sure how to format it, but I'm going to try my best to get it as right as possible or at least as close as I can get it. Just bare with me, here, yeah?
> 
> Okay, carry on.

"Bela, I don't know what you're saying!" Stephen said in exasperation.

She signed something to him again.

He groaned and looked for someone who might be able to help him. "Wong! Do you know sign language?"

Wong nodded, "Is Bela tired again?"

Stephen frowned, "What? I don't know, but thins morning she apparently decided to not be able to hear me."

Wong turned to Bela and signed to her: YOU WANT ME EXPLAIN HIM YOU? (Translation [will just be "T" from now on]: "Do you want me to explain it to him?")

Bela nodded. PLEASE. (That one's kind of self explanatory, but T: "Please.")

He returned the nod and turned back to Stephen, ""She's still learning to hear again. After a little while, her head will start to hurt or the world will just get to loud for her. So she stops using her magic for her ears for a few days just to take a break and will be deaf for a few days."

"Oh. And, what? So everyone in the sanctum knows Sign Language?" Stephen asked.

"Most people, yes. She started teaching people the Sign Language that is form their native country along with the American version of it. Some are still learning. I'm sure she'll teach you." Wong turned to Bela. WHY YOU -N- TEACH HIM? (T: ""Why haven't you taught him?"

She shrugged. ME -N- THINK TEACH HIM. HIM HANDS SHAKE HIM. HANDS HURT DURING SIGN HIM? ME -N- KNOW ME. (T: "I didn't think to teach him. His hands shake and it might hurt him to sign. I don't know.")

"Wait what are you guys saying?" Stephen asked.

Wong told him and he started to complain to Wong about Bela's neglect to teach him, but the librarian stopped him. "If you have something to say to her, talk to her."

"Why? She can't hear me?"

Bela flipped him the bird.

Wong frowned at her and then returned his attention to the former surgeon, "It's polite. Besides, she can read lips, so she can understand you. I'll interpret for her."

Stephen sighed like an over-dramatic teenager and started to talk to Bela, "So you don't think I can learn to sign because of my hands?"

Bela shook her head. ME -N- SAY THAT. YOUR HANDS HAVE 7 SURGERY NEED HEAL. ME -N- WANT YOU HURT YOUR HANDS. ME -N- KNOW SIGN HURT YOU HANDS FIXED YOU. ME TEACH YOU IF YOU WANT ME -N- PROMISE YOU CAN. (T: "That's not what I'm saying. You put your hands through seven surgeries and they're still healing. I don't want you to hurt them and i also don't know if it will hurt you to sign when your hands recover from the surgery. I''l teach you if you want me to, but i can't promise you'll be able to.")

Stephen rolled his eyes, "So yes."

Bela huffed indignantly. ME SORRY IF ME DEAF PROBLEM FOR YOU BUT ME LEARN HEAR, ME NEED TIME NOT HEAR SOMETIMES. ME LIKE QUIET. WORLD LOUD. PEOPLE GET COCHLEAR IMPLANT DO-DO SAME. TAKE-OFF IMPLANT SOMETIMES WHY? WORLD VERY LOUD. (T: "I'm sorry if my being Deaf is a problem for you, but while I'm learning to hear again, I'm going to have to be deaf again sometimes. I'm used to silence and the world is loud. You'll find that anyone who gets the cochlear implant goes through the same thing. They have to take it off sometimes because they can't handle how loud it is.")

Stephen frowned, "I never said you being deaf is a problem, i just want to be able to talk to you."

She shrugged helplessly. YOU TALK ME NOW YOU. (T: "You're talking to me now.")

"Without an interpreter." he clarified.

She shrugged, "Then i guess you'll just have to figure it out." and went in the direction of the kitchen.

Stephen looked at Wong, "I thought she couldn't talk."

"She can, she just doesn't like to when she can't hear."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not done quite yet, but I haven't posted in a while, so I figured I'd give you lot some reading material.

Bela was in the kitchen chopping potatoes a little too angrily. She sliced into her hand and cried out. Mark was there in an instant, looking it over.

YOU GO-TO HOSPITAL ROOM YOU. (T: "You should go to the infirmary.")

Bela nodded and wrapped her hand in a towel before going to the infirmary. To her surprise, Stephen was there looking after one of the little boys who had gotten a fever. The boy, Alexander, pointed at Bela and said something, but she wasn't paying enough attention to see what it was. Stephen glanced over and took in the way the girl he viewed almost as a daughter held her hand to close to her chest. Bela saw him look back to Alexander and say something to him. Alex nodded and Stephen made his way over to the insane blonde.

YOU DO-DO WHAT YOU? He signed. (T: "What did you do?")

Her eyes widened in surprise as she pantomimed cutting something. She saw his shoulders shake a little and knew he was chuckling at her. She punched his arm with her good hand.

YOU NEED MORE CAREFUL YOU. OKAY? (T: "You need to be more careful, okay?")

She nodded.

Stephen pat a chair. She sat and gave him her hand. She hissed as the cut came into contact with  the air when Stephen pulled off the towel, but he didn't seem to hear her. He was focused on her hand. He stood and held up a finger to tell her to hang on a moment. He went some where and came back with a needle, sutures, gauze, and medical tape. He sat back down and cleaned the cut, glancing p at Bela every so often to gauge her reaction, but she was as stone-faced as ever. He started to stitch up her hand and every time the needle would pass through her skin she would wince a little, but that was the only reaction she gave. He tied off the thread and wrapped up her hand.

ALL BETTER. He signed. (I don't think a translation is necessary here.)

She nodded, then frowned. YOU LEARN HOW SIGN WHEN YOU? (Or here.)

2ND DAY YOU NO HEAR YOU. He signed. (Basically I'll do it as needed.)

WHO TEACH YOU WHO? she asked.

DIFFERENT PEOPLE. EASY LEARN WHY? SEE LANGUAGE. ME MEMORY PICTURE ME. (T: "Different people. It was easy because it's a visual language and I have a photographic memory.")

-N- FAST. BUT GOOD. She signed.

THANK YOU.

WELCOME. NEED GO-TO KITCHEN NOW. DINNER MAKE FINISH. THANK YOU FOR FIX HAND. SEE YOU LATER. (T: "You're welcome. I need to go back to the kitchen to finish dinner. Thanks for fixing my hand, I'll see you later.")

She stood, kissed his cheek, and went back to the kitchen to finish making dinner.

 

XXX

 

WHAT COUNTRIES YOU GET DINNER FROM WHAT? (T: What countries did you get the recipe for dinner from?) Stephen asked.

MEXICO FRANCE ITALY GREECE PERU CUBA. She answered, taking a bite of her meal.

He did too, chewing thoughtfully.

YOU LIKE DON'T-LIKE WHICH? She asked. (T: Do you like it?)

ME PICK DIFFERENT COUNTRY ME. He answered.

Bela frowned in confusion. CONFUSED. AGAIN DIFFERENT SIGNS. (T: I'm confused. Sign it again with different signs.)

He thought for a moment. ME LOOK FOR DIFFERENT F-L-A-V-O-R-S FROM EACH COUNTRY. UNDERSTAND? (T: I'm trying to find the different flavors from each country. Do you understand now?)

She nodded. UNDERSTAND. YOU LIKE YOU? (T: I understand now. Do you like it?)

He nodded, too. ME LIKE ME. (T: I like it.)

GOOD. ME HAPPY ME. Bela finished eating and went to meet up with the Ancient One for her training.  
  
"Good luck little butterfly." Stephen said to himself.  
  
During these few hours of sparring with her teacher, Bela always used her magic to hear. She could fight just as well Deaf as she could as she could hearing, but hearing gave her an advantage. The rustle of cloth from the clothes of her opponent could give away their position and/or movements, depending on how she heard the clothes move. Sometimes it meant the difference between winning or losing, which would translate to life or death in -as Stephen so often put it- the real world. Depending on how her head felt after sparring with the Sorcerer Supreme would decide whether or not she would continue to let herself hear.  
  
"Magic or no magic?" she asked.

The Sorcerer Supreme pondered the answer to this question for a few moments, "I think you could use some practice. We'll use magic today."

Bela nodded and conjured a staff as her teacher conjured two fans.

They were about to start when Mordo and Wong ran past, an urgent look on both of their faces.

"Go with them." The Ancient One instructed.

Bela gave a nod and ran after them.  
  
Stephen was turning around to face Mordo and Wong as she ran in.  
  
"What exactly do we do?" he asked forcefully.

Wong and Mordo started to explain. The bell for the London sanctum tolled and the doors opened. The master of the sanctum tried to run to the safety of Kamar-Taj. But before he could make it, he was killed and the sanctum was destroyed. Bela and Stephen were thrown into the New York Sanctum from the force of the explosion.  
  
"Butterfly!" Stephen cried and crawled towards her.

She groaned and sat up, waving him off, "I'm fine. Can we get back to Kamar-Taj?"  
  
"No, it's blocked. Wait- wait, you're hearing again?"

"Now seems like a good time, don't you think? Come on." she pushed herself to her feet and started to walk throught the sanctum. "We'll split up, see if anyone's here."

"And if there is?"  
  
"You'll figure it out." she ran off and went ot look for the master of the sanctum, "Daniel!"

She found him.

"Bela! What are you doing here?" Daniel embraced her.

She returned the embrace, but quickly pulled away, "London has fallen."

"Kaecilius?"

Bela nodded.

"Then I suppose we should prepare. Do you have your relic yet?" Daniel asked her.

She shook her head, "Not yet."

Daniel gave her an encouraging smile and clapped her on the shoulder, "You'll get one. Is anyone else here?"

"Stephen Strange. Mystical smarta-" she stopped herself at his glare, "aaaaleck who hasn't figured out that the war has to be fought by all."

"I see." Daniel paused, "He's coming."  
  
The ran to the entrance.

"Stay here, I don't want you getting hurt." Daniel ran down the stairs.

Bela rolled her eyes, but obeyed. She wasn't sure she was sure ready to face Kaesilius just yet anyway. Stephen found her.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"He's here." she echoed Daniel's words from a few moments ago.  
  
"Are you going to be okay?"

"That's to be determined." she answered, focusing on what was happenning downstairs.

Stephen did, too, and vaulted himself over the railing with a cry of "NO!" as Kaecilius was about to stabthe master of the sanctum.

Words were exchanged and Kaecilius paused for Stephen's name, "Mister-"

"Doctor," Stephen corrected.

"Mr. Doctor?" the leader of the Zealots asked. Bela facepalmed.

"It's Strange." Stephen tried again.

"Maybe, who am I to judge?"

She took that as her cue and stepped out, "Really, Kaecilius. I thought you were inteligent."

He had the grace to look surprised, "Belarina?"

She rolled her eyes, "No, I'm the Ancient One."

Kaecilius apparently was not amused because he turned around and stabbed Daniel in the chest.

"No!" Bela cried, but he was already dead.

"Kill him. I want the girl alive." Kaecilius ordered his two Zealots.

She rolled her eyes, "You want me? You'll have to kill me."

"That can be arranged."

The two Zealots ran up the walls and went after Bela and Stephen. Stephen summoned his light whip thing and Bela made her staff. She broke the blade the Zealot had made with her staff and they started to fight. Stephen had run off and Bela was left to deal with the male Zealot alone. She was doing well until Kaecilius hit the back of her head and knocked her out.


	7. Chapter 7

When she woke up, she was right where Kaecilius left her: in the middle of the stairs in the foyer. She pushed herself to her feet and looked around. Master Drum's body was still at the foot of the stairs  and she didn't know where everyone else was. She walked around the sanctum carefuly, eyes open and ears sharp. She heard footsteps come her way so she quickly ducked behind a curtain. After the footsteps passed her, she peeked around the fabric she was hiding behind and then continued to look around. She found the Cloak of Levitation floating at a wall and a body lying below it. She closed the eyes of the dead Zealot and looked down the hall to the portal made by a sling ring. Curious, she stepped through it and looked around the closet she was in.  She opened the door and immediately recognized the scent of hospital. She had images of her time in the mental institute flash through her mind, but she pushed them back. She had to find Stephen. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, she let out the breath and started to look for her friend. Down the hall, a door opened and Stephen walked out, leaning heavily on a woman Bela had never seen before.

"Stephen!" Bela cried, and ran to him before hugging him tightly..

"Butterfly! How did you get here?" he asked, hugging her with one arm.

"You left your portal open in the closet and I found it when I was looking for you," the small blonde explained.

"Ah. I almost forgot about that," he joked.

"Hang on," the woman Stephen was leaning against slipped out from under his arm and walked behind Bela, "Sweetie, you're bleeding."

"I'll be fine." Bela stepped away from her.

"Bela, this is Dr. Christine Palmer. She's my friend." Stephen told her, using that "dad" look he got whenever she did something he didn't approve of, "Let her look at you."

Bela wanted to give a sarcastic response, but thought better of it and begrudgingly said that she would.

"I can't get a good look at it. Here, follow me." Dr. Palmer started to lead her towards the door she came out of with Stephen.

Stephen moved to follow them, but Bela pointed back towards the mop closet, "I think he might have escaped. You should go look. You'll know where I am and I know how to get back."

He nodded and turned around to go to the mop closet. Bela watched him until he had gone through the door and the door had swung shut before allowing Dr. Palmer to guide her through the door she had come out of with Stephen. The Doctor washed her hands and put on a fresh set of rubber gloves before coming back, having Bela sit on the table and trying to get a good look at her head.

"Is it okay if I take your hair down?" she asked.

Bela nodded and felt her gently fingers start to work her long blonde hair out of its up-do.

"It's really pretty. Did you do it?"

Bela shook her head.

"Who did?"

"Stephen."

"Really?" Dr. Palmer sounded surprised, "How did you meet him?"

"I'm his teacher. Well, one of them," Bela answered.

"Oh? What's the subject?"

Bela felt her hair slowly start to fall down her back, "Combat."

Dr. Palmer chuckled, "Really? How old are you- Bela, right?'

She nodded, "I'm seventeen."

"How did you get to teach Stephen combat?" Her fingers brushed up against the wound and Bela flinched at the unexpected pain, "Sorry."

"It's okay. Originally, I think it's because after he started to learn and get better at magic, his ego started to inflate again and the Ancient One thought he needed to have someone pop it. Trim it down to size, you know?"

"Yeah. Hang on, how did Stephen learn how to do your hair like this?"

Bela chuckled, "Lots and lots of practice."

"You can't do it yourself?"

Bela didn't answer.

"You can trust me, Bela. Besides, who am I going to tell? The only person I would tell would be Stephen, but I'm guessing he already knows?"

Bela let out a breath, "He kind of has to, actually, but to tell you, I have to basically tell you my whole life story."

"I've got time," Dr. Palmer assured her, working through a particularly tricky bit.

"When I was five, my parents died in a fire. Me and my brother almost died, too, but we were flown to a hospital."

"Is that where your burn scars come from?"

Bela nodded, "Yeah. After we were both recovered we were put into the foster system and moved around from place to place."

"Let me know if my questions get too personal, but did nobody want you?" Dr. Palmer asked.

"I don't know. Will and I never unpacked. We would wait for everyone to be asleep and then sneak out the window."

"Will is your brother?"

"Was."

"Oh," Dr. Palmer paused for a moment, "I'm sorry. What happened?"

Bela took a deep breath to settle her nerves. "I was ten. There was a group of people that we'd run into that took us in and one night these guys came in and took us all into the living room of the house we were staying in." Bela's voice broke.

"Hey," she rested her hand on Bela's arm, "You don't have to tell me. It's okay."

Bela turned to face her, "No, I have to tell  _someone._ "

Dr. Palmer frowned, "You haven't told anyone how he died?"

She shook her head.

The doctor in blue scrubs pushed herself up to sit beside Bela, "Okay. You can tell me."

"They tied us all up and took us into the living room." Tears started to track down her face as she saw it play out in front of her.

Dr. Palmer took off her gloves and wiped her tears, "What happened next?"

Bela closed her eyes and shook her head, "I can't."

"That's okay. Hey, Bela. It's okay. You don't have to tell me." Dr. Palmer rubbed her arm again.

She had an idea, "Maybe I can show you."


	8. Chapter 8

"What? How?"

Bela looked up at Dr. Palmer, "I've never done this before, so I don't know if it will work."

"Okay. I trust you."

"Are you sure?"

Dr. Palmer nodded.

Bela put her hands on either side of Dr. Palmer's face and pressed their foreheads together. she closed her eyes and instructed the doctor to do the same. She thought about that night and imagined putting the memory into a box and then giving the box tot he woman in front of her. She heard Dr. Palmer gasp and knew it was working.

XXX

Bela woke up to rough hands picking her up and two more zip-tying her hands behind her back. She screamed and tried to wriggle our of the grasp of the man that was carrying her. She felt his back rumble and knew he had said something, but she couldn't hear what he had said. She couldn't hear anything, actually. The man carried her down the stairs and unceremoniously dropped her onto the floor. There was an endless amount of time as the rest of the household was gathered in the living room. Bela was the only child and the adults sat around her protectively. Growing up in a hearing world, Bela was more sensitive to sound than most Deaf people. She was aware when gunshots went off around her. she didn't flinch or react in any way except for glaring at the men around her that were shoving the the people into the room. After an eternity and a half, everyone who hadn't been killed was downstairs. Or so they thought. Bela had yet to see William. Two of the men started talking and it was obvious that the man with tattoos all up and down his arms was the leader. She didn't have anything better to do, so she inspected his tattoos. She admitted to herself that whoever had done them had some talent, but some of the pictures made no sense. There was a dragon that was coiled around his left wrist and fore arm with the head resting on the back of his hand. She both admired and puzzled over it. She looked higher and found the United States Marine Corps insignia inked into the flesh of his bicep. That, at least, made sense. He was a military man. Or had been. She didn't know or care. It didn't matter in that moment. She was only aware that he was speaking to her when he slapped her. She glared up at him as defiantly as her ten-year-old self could as he tried to speak to her once again. Someone must have told him she couldn't hear, because one of his men started to interpret for her.

STAND. He signed.

She continued to flare at the leader.

He rolled his eyes and pulled out a gun, pointing the muzzle between her eyes so that she was literally staring down the barrel of a forty-five. 

STAND. The interpreter signed again after the boss spoke again.

She didn't move a muscle. The side of the gun slammed into the side of her face, making her bite her tongue hard enough to draw blood. She spat it in his face.He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to her feet, pressing the barrel of the gun to her temple and making her look out at the group of people that had been gathered. She felt his chest rumble against her back as he spoke and saw his man translate for her again.

ALL PEOPLE HER?

She shrugged, "Some are dead."

YOU TALK YOU?

"Little bit. Not well."

READ LIPS YOU?

She shook her head.

The leader dragged her by the hair to the pile of bodies that his men had stacked up. He forced her to look over the faces of every single one, lashing her with an arm to keep her still when she fought against him, not wanting to see the glazed eyes of the people who had taken her and her brother in and taken care of them for a time. He pulled her up by the hair, speaking again as the weight in her chest lifted just a little. She didn't see her brother among the dead.

ALL PEOPLE HERE? The interpreter signed again.

"Why? So you can make sure you've killed all of us?" she snapped.

The man holding her hit her again and spoke.

ALL PEOPLE HERE?

She nodded, lying and praying they didn't find her brother. Her prayers went unanswered. Two men dragged a bound, bruised, and bloodied Willy into the room. The man's chest rumbled against Bela's back again and her wrists were suddenly freed after she felt something cold and hard slide between them. She ran to her brother and embraced him tightly. He wasn't able to return the gesture of affection due to his restrained hands until someone else cut his as well. He encircled his little sister in his arms and held her against his chest as tightly as he could. She felt him lift his head from her shoulder and felt his chest vibrate as he said something. She was then torn from the safety of his embrace and she yelled and fought to get back to her brother. She was held firmly and then watched as the man with the tattoos shoved a gun into her hands. She tried to point the end of it at the man who was controlling her, but he was much stronger. Willy must have said something because the man pulled away from her, taking the gun with him. Bela fell onto her brother. He caught her and held her close, wiping her tears away with his thumb and smoothing her hair back. He pressed a firm kiss to the top of her head and said something. His lips were the only ones she could read and a few things she knew he's said from the way his chest vibrated. Things like her name-shortened or full- or "I love you" or "close your eyes" because there were somethings you saw on the streets that you didn't want to see yourself, let alone a child. So she knew what he had said in that moment.

"I love you, Belarina."

"I love you, too," she sobbed.

She was ripped away from him a second time and she screamed even louder, "NO!"

The gun was thrust into her hands once again.

She kept saying "no" as she had the time before and the man holding her said something that she felt more than heard, but didn't understand.

"Bela," she saw William say, "Look at me."

She focused on him, trying to breathe normally.

"You have to do it. If you don't, they'll kill us both," he told her.

She nodded.

"Okay?"

She nodded again.

"Close your eyes," the dark-haired boy instructed.

She obeyed, knowing his next words would be "and pull the trigger." Bela squeezed her eyes shut and gathered all the courage she could muster before doing just that. She felt the gun recoil in her hands and something heavy hit the floor in front of her. She opened her eyes and screamed.


End file.
